19 replies to this topic

[Apparelyzed]

This isn't something I've seen discussed before, so I thought I'd raise the topic.

I'm 15 years post injury, c5/6 Quadriplegic/Tetraplegic.

Even after all this time, if I try to move, the muscle I'm trying to move feels like it's tensing up, even though there's no movement.

So, does anyone else get this sensation, or is it just my mind playing tricks on me?

Even after I stop trying to move, the sensation lingers for a couple of minutes, no matter which muscle in my body I've been trying to move.

I think it's just my mind playing tricks, but even after this long, every now and again, I'll still see if I can move something just for the hell of it!

Simon.

[Deej]

Hi Simon,

I am 13 years post injury and I get exactly the same feeling, and sometimes if I place my hand on the muscle I am trying to move I even think I feel it tightening slightly - but I think that bit is definitely my mind playing tricks on me. We keep trying though don't we?

[Joed]

Same thing here. I think it's real, but the muscle movement is soooooo miniscule that we don't see it outwardly.

When I'm in bed, I'll try and move my foot, etc., and I could swear that I must be getting some movement....it just feels like I am. So I'll lay my 'good' foot, which has some sensation, alongside it to sense for any movement, but nothing.

But I'll keep trying until the day I die, even though sometimes it's quite maddening. At those times, I have to stop trying...I get too frustrated.

[Lucydog]

I wonder if this is similar to what amputees experience in that they still feel pain in a limb that isnt there? my guess is that its something to do with the wiring of the brain in that it expects to feel a reaction. Just a thought.

L

[Deej]

I think you are exactly right Lucydog - that is what I have always correlated the feelings to - the amputee scenario - though I have always thought that it was because the nerves that used to reach the limb are still there and working, but they have been 'cut short' so to speak. Similarly SCI's still have the nerves that used to serve our extremities but the impulses don't make it all the way there. So maybe it is some latent memory of motor and sensory function. Does that make sense?

Ofcourse I could just be talking b******s!

[sjmhb030]

yea, i get the same feeling as well, even if i just think about moving the muscle and i get the feeling. I honestly think there is some sort of signal getting down there, but who knows

[Jodie Lynn]

Hey Guys, I know I am just a lil over two years out from my injury but I gotta add my two cents to this topic.. Well a few months after I became weight baring I felt the same things you ll are talkin about myself.. I kept working with the feelins and slowly but surely i became able to move my left ankle up and down from what started out as just the feelin of the muscles inside movin became an outward movement i get the same thing in my right foot now and am currently workin with it I can place my hand on my foot and I can physically feel the muscles moving but just no outward movement as of yet.. So in my opinion it is not all just in our heads... I will always continue to keep going no matter how long it takes maybe it will never fully come back but I will never give up hope that it will be back again.. So anyways thats my thoughts and feelins on this subject.......



JodieLynn

[ParaforGod]

I am a amputee, my right leg and I do have phantom pain in that leg but I also have the same feeling at times in my leg thats not amputated. When I try and move my leg it feels like a straining feeling up through my leg. I was told you feel the phantom pain because the brain remembers that the limb was there so I guess the brain remembers that my other leg use to move. But then what do I know?

[nomis]

I’m darn near 40 years post injury, T4-5 complete. I think I feel a similar muscle tensing sensation as Simon describes.

I see it as my brain accessing those motor nerves and, maybe from expectation, gets a vague message back.

I enjoy exploring what my body can tell me, real or unreal. For a long time now I haven’t expected or even wanted recovery (imagine the trauma in mobilising limbs after decades of non-use). So I do it more from curiosity than hope.

For instance, here’s an idea for those who have good hand sensation.

If you massage, say, someone else’s hand. The more you allow your own awareness to blend in with their hand the more they seem to enjoy it. So, how about trying that on yourself with a paralysed foot.

What I found was that the more I kept going, focusing on what my fingers were doing, feeling the rhythm, the more I couldn’t tell if it was my hands or my foot that was doing the feeling. It gave me quite a surprise the first time.

I doubt if it’s going to do anything for your mobility but it’s quite a buzz to be reassured those old feelings are as alive today as ever before. I do feel more complete for that experience.

I’m sure those without hand sensation can find their own creative versions of the same. I’d be interested to hear them because it might open me to something new and exciting.

Edited by nomis, 17 July 2007 - 11:46 PM.

[Philly713]

First of all I don't have an answer or advice for your question but I do have a comment: I think this should be promising for you. I am told that experts are getting closer to a cure every day. Have you tried biofeedback muscle stimulation (or whatever the experts call this)? Keep your hopes up an exercise those muscles physically and/or in your head. It can do nothing but help anyways right? Good luck

[jass1]

IM 2 years post i feel the same but with alot of pain

[edlee]

Yes, I get those "sensations" too. I've tried it while holding on to the affected part, but found no movement, tensing, or anything else happening.

If it makes someone feel better to think that thru hard work they can be cured, more power to them. I hope they are right.
ed

[bunkalar]

IMA C6/7 c omplete and had no sensation or movement for almost 3 years and then a couple of months ago I started to get some sensation in my lower body and also started to feel like I was flexing all my muscles. It feels like I'm flexing my muscles and also I feel like I can move my feet and toes although I can see nothing. When I put my hand on my muscles I can feel a little twitch and also when I feel my toes it feels like they're trying to move but they dont. I'm not sure what to make of it but I'm hoping for the best.

[jessee]

I am two years post injury and get similar sensations. When I try to move my leg I get tingly sensations from my thigh all the way to my foot. When I stop trying to move the sensation stops. To me it seems like some type of signal may be trying to get through. I still feel the "phantom" sensations that occur but this is different.... when I try to move it starts and when I stop it stops.

All I know is that I'm going to keep on trying because you never know what tomorrow will bring.

[Deej]

All those who are many years post injury, do you feel that you find it more and more difficult to actually isolate the muscles you are trying to move? I can try to move my big toe, but I get the impression that I am now unable to single out just the one toe and actually have the 'sensation' that the attempt sort of covers all the toes on the one foot - does that make sense?Not sure I can accurately describe the mechanism.

[Joed]

Quote

Deej wrote: I get the impression that I am now unable to single out just the one toe and actually have the 'sensation' that the attempt sort of covers all the toes on the one foot - does that make sense?

It makes perfect sense to me, Deej.

Pre-para, in my whole life I've never had acute motor ability in my right leg/foot. If I would try to move just one toe, they all would move.

I always found it weird that whatever I did with my 'good' foot, my weaker one would mimic the same movements, only on a smaller scale. That was the only way I could get specific movement from my right toe. I think that has something to do with my split cord. I often wonder if that was nature's way of trying to compensate for the bad wiring I had from the beginning.

[nomis]

jessee, on Jul 24 2007, 06:12 AM, said:

I am two years post injury and get similar sensations. When I try to move my leg I get tingly sensations from my thigh all the way to my foot. When I stop trying to move the sensation stops. To me it seems like some type of signal may be trying to get through. I still feel the "phantom" sensations that occur but this is different.... when I try to move it starts and when I stop it stops.

All I know is that I'm going to keep on trying because you never know what tomorrow will bring.

I'm close to 4 decades post injury and when my concentration is clear I reckon I can locate the sensation of any part of my body as sharp as ever. I'mT4 complete and not expecting miracles, only amusement. I've been more interested in such feelings of recent to discover that after years of neglect nothing is lost.

[jessee]

[ I'mT4 complete and not expecting miracles, only amusement. I've been more interested in such feelings of recent to discover that after years of neglect nothing is lost.
[/quote]

What do you mean?

[nomis]

[quote name='jessee' date='Jul 27 2007, 03:05 AM' post='36934']
[ I'mT4 complete and not expecting miracles, only amusement. I've been more interested in such feelings of recent to discover that after years of neglect nothing is lost.
[/quote]

What do you mean?
[/quote]
The brain retains a vivid memory of sensations long lost. That sentence seems to contradict itself but that's what I mean. I haven't walked barefoot on the beach for probably 40 years. If I choose, with focus I can recreate that feeling of wet sand between my toes. I can send a message from my brain for my toes to curl under. It feels the same as the good ol' preSCI days only there's not even a hint of the toes moving. As a SCI person I don't often visit these sensations because they no longer have practical value to me but they are still there if I choose to tune in.

Edited by nomis, 27 July 2007 - 04:31 AM.

[Somebody]

Nomis my memory isn't that good. I wish it was.

17 yrs here.
I could move my right toes at the Rehab.
But it took deep concentration, to the point of a headache.
The Rehab told me to stop trying and I did.
I've never tried like that again.

I got electrical stimulation on my right had in the NH,
6 months after sci, and my right finger started moving.
But Medicare/Medicaid only paid for 1 month.
So that ended.

Now when I tell my leg muscles to work,
I feel electrical impulses shooting up & down my legs.
I feel the memory, but no movement.

One more thing.
When I try to move my stomach muscles I see it move,
but was told it was my diaphram.
Is that true?

Edited by Somebody, 03 September 2007 - 05:02 PM.